Not sure what to name your business, product or website? Eat My Words' SMILE & SCRATCH Test can help!
I have a friend that’s beginning the process of starting a new business. On Facebook, he recently asked for advice in coming up with a name for his business that would have an effective URL associated with it. My first thought immediately went to Eat My Words’ SMILE & SCRATCH Test:
If you’re naming a company, product or service, here’s a fast and free way to find out if you have a great name. Featured in The Wall Street Journal, the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH Test is based on our philosophy that a name should make you smile, instead of scratch your head. Go ahead, give it a whirl and be honest with yourself…
SMILE if your name has these 5 winning qualities:
Simple – one no-brainer concept
Meaningful – customers “get it”
Imagery – visually evocative
Legs – lends itself to wordplay
Emotional – makes a connection
SCRATCH it if it commits any of these 7 deadly sins:
Spelling-challenged – isn’t spelled exactly how it sounds
Copycat – similar to competitor’s names
Random – disconnected from the brand
Annoying – hidden meaning, forced
Tame – flat, descriptive, uninspired
Curse of Knowledge – only insiders get it
Hard-to-pronounce – not obvious, unapproachable
If you’re naming your company, brand or product, or picking out a domain name, Eat My Words has a lot of really useful advice like:
Do not name your business after yourself. Your own name is meaningless to your future customers and evokes absolutely nothing about your business. If you’re like most of us, your name is either hard to spell, hard to pronounce or hard for people to remember. The only time to use your name as your business name is when it lends itself to wordplay, such as a consultant named Steven Lord. His business is called “Lord Knows!” The Wynn Hotel in Vegas is also a great example of when it makes sense to use your own name.
Your brand name should be spelled exactly how it sounds. If you don’t, you will constantly have to tell people how to spell it, e.g. “That’s Takkle with two k’s.” Think of how often you have to spell your own first or last name for people. Why would you want a brand name with the same problem?
Make sure your product names work as a family. Roomba was the initial product from iRobot. They thought they were onto something when they named their next product, a wet vac, Scooba. Then they were stuck. They ran out of “ba” names. How do their next two robots Verro (pools) and Looj (gutters) fit in? They don’t. Apple had the foresight to name their operating systems related names – even years before they were launched. Tiger, Panther, Jaguar, Leopard, Snow Leopard – they all are part of a family, which makes them easy to identify and remember.
Make sure your domain name doesn’t spell something unfortunate. I’m sure Pen Island didn’t check this when they bought the domain penisland.com. Ferreth and Jobs also made this mistake: ferrethandjobs.com. Our all time favorite “Slurl,” is Mole Station Nursery, also known as molestationnursery.com.
See more tips at www.eatmywords.com.
Photo Credit: o5com